Sunday, March 04, 2012

Priests: Taoiseach's criticism of Vatican 'undeserved'

A survey of Catholic Priests has found that two thirds felt the Taoiseach Enda Kenny's criticism of the Vatican in the wake of the Murphy report was "undeserved".

The poll, carried out by the 'Moncrieff Show' on Newstalk, was submitted to 320 priests nationwide, with 114 responding.

Up to 63% believed the Vatican had handled clerical sex abuse cases poorly while 65% believed the abuse scandals have damaged the reputation of all priests.

The poll also found that 79% of priests said their confidence in RTÉ had been damaged by the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel case.

On the issue of the Taoiseach's Dáil speech in the wake of the Murphy report, 75% of the priests surveyed felt it was undeserved, with some branding it "outrageous", "inappropriate and adolescent".